Average July relative humidity values for the continental United States.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Atmospheric water vapour is an important factor in weather for several reasons. It regulates air temperature by absorbing thermal radiation both from the Sun and the Earth. Moreover, the higher the vapour content of the atmosphere, the more latent energy is available for the generation of storms. In addition, water vapour is the ultimate source of all forms of condensation and precipitation.

Water vapour enters the atmosphere primarily by the evaporation of water from the Earth’s surface, both land and sea. The water-vapour content of the atmosphere varies from place to place and from time to time because the humidity capacity of air is determined by temperature. At 30 °C (86 °F), for example, a volume of air can contain up to 4 percent water vapour. At -40 °C (-40 °F), however, it can hold no more than 0.2 percent.

When a volume of air at a given temperature holds the maximum amount of water vapour, the air is said to be saturated. Relative humidity is the water-vapour content of the air relative to its content at saturation. Saturated air, for example, has a relative humidity of 100 percent, and near the Earth the relative humidity very rarely falls below 30 percent. Unsaturated air can become saturated in three ways—by evaporation of water into the air; by the mixing of two masses of air of different temperatures, both initially unsaturated but saturated as a mixture; or, most commonly, by cooling the air, which reduces its capacity to hold moisture as water vapour sometimes to the point that the water vapour it holds is sufficient for saturation. This atmospheric cooling can be brought about in a number of ways, as by the arrival of a cooler air mass or by the movement of an air mass up a mountain side. If the cooling continues beyond the point of saturation, and provided there are sufficient condensation nuclei in the air around which tiny cloud or fog droplets can form, the excess moisture will condense out of the air as cloud or fog droplets or various forms of precipitation at the Earth’s surface. The condensation process, however, releases latent heat, which may help the cloud to grow upward, by warming the humid air, causing it to rise, or, conversely, may evaporate the clouds as the warmed air falls below the saturation point and is able to absorb more water vapour. When clouds form, however, they block out some solar radiation and thereby have a net effect of cooling the air.

Care must be taken to distinguish between the relative humidity of the air and its moisture content or density, known as absolute humidity. The air masses above the tropical deserts such as the Sahara and Mexican deserts contain vast quantities of moisture as invisible water vapour. Because of the high temperatures, however, relative humidities are very low. Conversely, air in very high latitudes, because of low temperatures, is frequently saturated even though the absolute amount of moisture in the air is low.